


Baby Steps (To Our Paradise Planet)

by ShowMeAHero



Category: The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Minor canon divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 10:50:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4873945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elder Price was something else, he really was. Boys like him were the reason Elder McKinley came up with his entire lightswitch coping mechanism in the first place, and boys like him were why the lightswitch coping mechanism did not actually tend to work very well. Sure, in theory, it worked like a charm; memories of the fifth grade could be flicked off just like that. Everybody did that. Everybody did not have to look Elder Price in his glowing, grinning face and pretend that they were not halfway in love with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Steps (To Our Paradise Planet)

**Author's Note:**

> When a couple of my friends and I saw the Boston run of 'The Book of Mormon' last night (tonight? what the fuck time is it?), the first thing my friend Cheyenne said to me after was "I thought Elder McKinley was just going to grab Kevin and kiss him when he said "Fuck him!" about the Mission President," and I got so obsessed with the idea so fast that it's 2am and I'm exhausted and I stayed up to finish this. A gift!

Elder McKinley clutched the handle of his suitcase, one of the only spots of color in his otherwise bland mission-restricted ownership, and frowned at Elder Price. Maybe none of them were even Elders anymore, though - maybe he was just Connor, and Elder Price was just Kevin, and none of them were allowed back into the Church, let alone back in as Elders. His knuckles tightened on his handle as Elder Price approached him, Elder Cunningham at his back.

“Elders, where do you think you’re going?” Elder Price asked, and McKinley rolled his shoulders up, tense. coiled. He just wanted to sleep, at this point. Elder Price looked tired, too; exhausted, and dirty, and just as ready to go home as the rest of them were. His eyes were bright, though, and he stood up straight and tall, commanding Elder McKinley’s attention.

“What do you mean, ‘where are we going?’” Elder McKinley asked, flexing his fingers on the suitcase handle. Elder Price’s frown got a little deeper, the furrow between his eyebrows more pronounced. Elder McKinley blew out a harsh breath. “We’ve been shut down.”

“Yeah, we have to go home,” Elder Neeley added, and Elder McKinley nodded his agreement. Elder Price glanced at Neeley, then back to McKinley. It was strange, to have the full force of his attention on him. He felt like he rarely got it; nobody ever really got it, the whole of it, anyways. Elder Price seemed to deliberate for a brief moment.

“Who says we have to?” Elder Price said, finally, and the rest of the Elders fell silent. Elder McKinley tipped his head, then-

“What?” Elder Zelder asked, incredulous. Elder McKinley looked to him, then back to Elder Price, who had that manic look in his eye again. McKinley was growing to like it, actually; it usually was followed by something wild, but exciting, and would probably work. In any case, it made Elder Price light up, and that was worth literally anything to Elder McKinley.

“Look, we all wanted to go on a mission so we could spend two years of our lives helping people out, right?” Elder Price said. Elder McKinley vigorously nodded his head, which seemed to be all the prompting Elder Price needed to continue. “So, let’s do it!”

Elder Price was something else, he really was. Boys like him were the reason Elder McKinley came up with his entire lightswitch coping mechanism in the first place, and boys like him were why the lightswitch coping mechanism did not actually tend to work very well. Sure, in theory, it worked like a charm; memories of the fifth grade could be flicked off just like that. Everybody did that. Everybody did not have to look Elder Price in his glowing, grinning face and pretend that they were not halfway in love with him. Elder McKinley would follow him into Hell, probably. Or, you know, whatever else, since they essentially already lived in Hell.

“But the Mission President said we’re all as far from Latter-day Saints as it gets!” Elder Neeley argued, ever the contrarian, and Elder Price’s eyes just _lit up_ , and Elder McKinley’s knuckles went white on his suitcase handle.

“No, you know what, guys?” Elder Price spat, turning and throwing his hands up in the air. “ _Fuck_ him!”

Elder McKinley released his iron grip on his suitcase handle so suddenly that the whole contraption fell to the ground. Elder Price looked up at him in surprise, and he barely got enough time to register what was happening before Elder McKinley was kissing him, hands wrapped around Elder Price’s wrists. Elder Price stared at his face for a few horrible beats of his heart before he shut his eyes, and Elder McKinley sighed when he kissed him back. He withdrew, his face hot and red, and only getting hotter and redder when he saw the expressions on the other Elders watching them.

“I’m sorry,” Elder McKinley said, voice coming out choked before he coughed into a fist. “Yeah. Sorry about that, sorry.” He backed up and picked up his suitcase again. He motioned for Elder Price to continue. Elder Price stared at him for a moment, wide-eyed, bright spots of color high on his cheeks. He came back to himself a second later, clearing his throat and shaking his head.

“Uhm… yeah. Hey, yeah, _fuck_ him, we are _still_ Latter-day Saints, _all_ of us!” Elder Price continued, picking up his train of thought. Elder McKinley thought he could have pinpointed the exact moment the righteous fire roared back to life inside of him, and his focus came back into play full-force. “Even if we change some things, or we break the rules, or we have complete doubt that God exists… We can still all work together and make _this_ our Paradise planet.”

The rest of the day was hazy after that; a collection of speeches and songs and embraces and boldly-given middle fingers gave way to a night that saw Elder McKinley unpacking his few belongings in his room back at the mission center. A tentative knock sounded at his thin door, and he and Elder Thomas both looked up to see Elder Price standing in the open doorway. He cleared his throat nervously, and Elder Thomas dropped the shirt in his hands.

“I’m gonna go find something to eat,” Elder Thomas announced suddenly, and he vanished before Elder McKinley could say boo about it. Elder McKinley finished folding the pair of slacks in his hands and tucked them into his drawer.

“Hi,” Elder Price offered hesitantly. He took a step into the room, and Elder McKinley shut the drawer.

“Hello,” Elder McKinley replied, and Elder Price reached for the wooden door handle.

“Open or shut?” Elder Price asked, and Elder McKinley glanced through the open door to see several people scramble to act like they were not snooping.

“Tongues will wag regardless, so we may as well shut it,” Elder McKinley answered. Elder Price pulled the door shut softly behind him, letting the wood slide into place within wood.

“About earlier-”

“I’m sorry-”

“Go ahead,” Elder Price offered, and the tips of McKinley’s ears went red.

“I’m sorry, about earlier,” Elder McKinley apologized. He sat down on the edge of his mattress, and Elder Price hesitated, just briefly, before he sat beside him. “I just… I’ve been keeping it all up inside so long, you know? And then I felt something so… _much_ , that I just.” He mimed an explosion with his hands. “You know what I mean?”

“I think I know what you mean.” Elder Price looked at Elder McKinley’s hands as they moved, then looked down at his own, his fingers interlocked and resting on his lap. He nervously released his own hand and reached out towards Elder McKinley’s flailing hands, still a little gun-shy as he took one of them in one of his own. “You don’t have to apologize, though.”

“I did it in front of everyone, and I didn’t even know if-”

“I appreciate your passion,” Elder Price interrupted. “I’ve been waiting for you to show it. I know you had to have it, you shouldn’t just keep repressing it forever.” He fiddled with McKinley’s fingers, twisting them up in his. Elder McKinley’s heart was in his throat. “You really don’t have to apologize, I promise.”

“Okay,” Elder McKinley agreed, mouth dry. Elder Price looked up at him, one eyebrow lifted. He smiled.

“Just okay?” he asked, and Elder McKinley released a breath. He grinned right back, and he straightened up, bringing himself up a few inches above Elder Price’s sightline. Elder Price tilted his head a bit to keep eye contact.

“More than okay,” Elder McKinley replied, and he allowed Elder Price to lean up and kiss him, his grip on his hand tightening as he did so. His other hand gripped his thigh, nails strong through the fabric of his slacks, and Elder McKinley opened his mouth without meaning to. He pulled back, his free hand pressed to his lips, and Elder Price laughed.

“We’ll work it out,” Elder Price promised. “Baby steps. We’ll get there.”

“I look forward to it, Elder.” Elder McKinley ran his fingertips hesitantly over the back of Elder Price’s hand where it still rested on his thigh.

“Kevin,” Elder Price added, and Elder McKinley looked back up at him.

“Pardon?” Elder McKinley asked, and Elder Price laughed.

“Kevin. You can call me Kevin,” Elder Price clarified. Elder McKinley smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Connor,” Elder McKinley offered in return, and Elder Price squeezed his hand.

“Paradise planet,” Elder Price - _Kevin_ \- reminded him, and Connor smiled, ducking his head and not even stopping his smile from turning into a full-force grin at the sight of their hands still tangled together between them.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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